Remaining Memories
by PsychicDreams
Summary: Its been five months after Galaxia has left and the Senshi are wary at the sudden peace, but fairly unconcerned. Makoto is unconcerned enough to think about her Sempai. Is he the one who saved her, or is it the brown-eyed man that she can barely remember?


Author's Note:

Well, I thought of this idea to explain Makoto's infatuation for her 'Sempai'. Besides, this is a one part and if I have any readers of my fanfiction, I thought this might placate them. I am not dead! In fact, I'm working on three fanfictions at once right now. One is almost done, another is near 75% done, and I just started another which I thought was an extremely interesting concept (that one will have a sequel). I also have two more ideas that I just wrote down last night.

So, as you can see, I am not dead, just working very slowly.

None of the characters or anything in here is mine, and the rest of the standard disclaimers. My email, if you want to contact me, is Guardian4@atlantic.net.

Remaining Memories

"He looks like my old Sempai," Makoto murmured as a brown haired man walked by.

Rei couldn't take it anymore and she demanded, "Kino Makoto-chan, who is your Sempai that you spend every minute of every day pining for that you can barely concentrate on being a Senshi?!"

Makoto looked startled, her heart a bit hurt at how her friend had told her and she sighed. Minako, Ami, and Usagi watched her cautiously, curious despite themselves to know about this infamous 'Sempai'.

It had been a long while, nearly five months, after Galaxia had left, that they had had an attack. It was peaceful, but the Senshi had learned a hard lesson about relaxing their guard. They would not stop their watch until they were absolutely sure nothing was coming their way for a long while.

Makoto had let her attention lapse, she knew that. And she also knew she shouldn't of. But…

"Oh gods, Mako-chan, I'm so sorry!" Rei burst out, truly sorry. "I didn't mean to sound like that; really I didn't, but…"

"It's my fault, Minna," Makoto whispered, "I never talk about him and you have nothing to go on. And I've known you all for so long that you deserve to know who he is. He saved me when I really needed it and I'll never stop loving my savior. We met…"

Makoto felt a bit self-conscious when she walked into the school building. This new brown uniform was okay, if a bit drab. But then again, her favorite color was green and of all the schools she had been to, only one had had that color. She smiled fondly as she thought of her previous school. Hunter green skirt, red bow and white top with green at the back.

"Are you new here?" asked a boy to her right.

She whirled in surprise. It had been so quiet in the halls, class being in session, and she still hadn't heard him come up.

"Yes," she answered, a bit shyly.

He was a good-looking specimen of the male race, with green eyes and mousy-colored brown hair. But when he smiled, it didn't matter because that's where his true beauty lie. He had wonderfully slim hands that looked like they were made to play the piano and his medium-build was perfect. He was also half a head taller than her.

"My name's Freddy; I'm actually from the U.S., but I moved here around seven years ago. I can't find a better place to be than this. I love it here."

"I've lived in Japan my whole life," she told him. 

"What class do you have now? I'll show you to it."

And that was how it began. He would meet her after every class to show her where the next one was and that was how it was for the whole week. She had grown accustomed to his appearance beside the doorway and had foolishly thought it would continue, thought they were going to be friends.

But when Monday morning came the second week of that new school, he wasn't there. She thought perhaps he was sick and looked for him the next day. She looked for him to come around her classroom for the next seven days.

She eventually spotted him out in the courtyard after school, talking to a girl with bright green hair and beautiful golden eyes. Her heart constricted, because she hadn't realized how much she had liked him until then.

Slowly she approached and he smiled at her. "Misato, this is Makoto, a new transfer student. Makoto, this is Misato, my girlfriend."

Misato smiled and Makoto knew she meant the gesture to be warm and friendly. And the girl was; under normal circumstances, she would have become fast friends with her, but right then, her heart had been crushed. 

"I just wanted to say thank you, Sempai, for showing me around my first week," she mumbled.

"Oh, you showed her around, Freddy?" Misato asked in a musical and singsong voice. "That was extremely nice of you. Makoto-san, perhaps we will see each other again. I would love to go shopping with you. I heard you have excellent taste in elegant clothing."

It was sincere, it wasn't patronizing. Makoto knew she had what would be called good taste in elegant clothing, since those elegant, adult, clothing was the only thing that would fit her and she couldn't afford right then to special order teenage, fittable outfits.

"I would like that," she murmured and hurried away to hide her tears.

For the next month, it was like her life was on a hurtful rewind. Every time she saw Freddy, she would speak with him, but then he miraculously made his girlfriend appear. But as she watched, every day, she saw their relationship breaking apart. They began to fight and she was annoyed whenever he was around her.

Then, during lunch when she was sitting alone, as usual, an argument reached her ears. She immediately recognized the voices as those of Freddy and Misato.

"I don't think it's going to work, Freddy! Can't I talk to my friends without you showing up every five seconds? Leave me alone!"

"I saw the way you were looking at that football player!"

"He's a simple friend! You have real problems with insecurity!"

She hid behind a tree as they came into view, gesturing heatedly. "I do not have insecurity problems!"

"Yes you do and you're completely blind too! Can't you see that new transfer student is head of heels in love with you! But she had better watch out before she finds out how cold you really are!"

"That girl? She's just a kid! Are you jealous?"

"She is not just a kid! She's a beautiful young woman that is sweet and kind! I don't want you to completely destroy that! Look what you did to me! You made me so suspicious that I almost lost my friends because of you! I barely got them back and I want them more than I want you!"

"Fine! Your loss!"

"NO! My gain!"

And with that, she stormed off. Freddy snuck off-campus a few minutes later.

Makoto didn't know what to think. Freddy had broken up with his girlfriend right in front of her and he thought she was just a kid. Yet Misato had said she wasn't. What exactly did she mean when she had said that Makoto had better watch out? What did that really mean? Watch out for what? Makoto could take care of herself, always could before (a talent that had been with her since she was little), and she was sure he would be no exception, but how could someone as wonderful as Freddy be as bad as Misato believed?

It was when she was leaving her school that Makoto had the fright of her life. Five strong boys surrounded her and backed her into an alleyway. She immediately tried to fight her way out and at first it had been working. She knew though that as soon as she was free, she was completely free. Once she started running, there was no way they could possibly catch her.

Perhaps they sensed that too because they doubled their efforts to keep her there. Finally one got in one lucky punch and she went down hard on the concrete. He smiled nastily and grabbed the front of her shirt. The skirt was already torn to almost being unrecognizable. 

A feeling tugged at her, made her want to scream that this was wrong, there should have been more with her and they would help her. But that wasn't true. No one had ever been with her; she was always alone.

Over the boy's shoulder she caught a glimpse of Freddy and she cried out for him to help her. He turned and looked her straight in the eye a split second before the beefy boy's hand hit her face hard.

Her vision swam with fuzziness and she couldn't make out any details at all. Suddenly the boy was thrust away from her and she heard the unmistakable sounds of fighting going on above her. Makoto didn't move, because it hurt to even breathe.

Thumping sounds intruded and she managed to open her eyes. Dark brown hair blocked out the light and surrounded a worried and pale face. It was short, much shorter than…Did Freddy get a haircut or something? It was certainly possible, or maybe one of those cretin boys had cut it with a knife. A hand supported her head and brown eyes looked into hers anxiously.

"Makoto…"

The voice was distant and watery in her ears as she fell unconscious.

"The next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital in pretty bad shape. I met Shinozaki there. He had been visiting someone and that's how we had become friends," she finished. "I had the feeling that you all had always been with me, but that had come from the Silver Millennium. I knew you would have helped me if you had been there." She smiled softly, sadly.

It was silent in the booth until Ami spoke. "But Mako-chan, you said that your 'Sempai', Freddy, had green eyes, but the one that saved you had brown eyes."

Makoto looked startled. "It had to have been Freddy, Ami-chan. No one else was there to help me."

"Mako-chan," Minako began slowly, "do you love Freddy or do you love the person that saved you?"

The brown-haired girl leaned back in her seat and stared out the window. She didn't know. But her savior and Freddy had to be one and the same. No one else had been around or heard her cry for help.

"Well, um, anyway, let's get back to the meeting," Rei stumbled.

The other girls and Makoto agreed, but Makoto's attention was no longer on the meeting. 

All her life she had assumed that the face she had vaguely seen was that of Freddy's; she had never questioned it. She had assumed, then, that he had loved her because he had saved her. But what if they weren't the same? She had known the moment she looked into those eyes of her savior that that was the only person she would ever love, but…could it be that it wasn't Freddy?

No, it was impossible. It had been Freddy. She looked out the window, brooding. Freddy had to have saved her. It was Freddy. It was Freddy…"Freddy?!" she exclaimed.

Four girls' head snapped up and looked out the window. Freddy spotted them and smiled. He waved, entering the sliding glass door. Luna and Artemis, who had been sleeping in Minako and Usagi's laps, levered themselves onto the tabletop, watching suspiciously.

"Hello, Makoto. Do you remember me?"

_Of course I remember you,_ she thought, nodding, _how could I ever forget you? _

"Who are your friends?" he asked, his eyes lingering on Usagi a little longer than any of the others, especially Makoto, liked.

"This is Ami, Rei, Minako, and Usagi. And their cats, Luna and Artemis," she introduced them, trying to control her wavering voice. He didn't seem to notice.

Rather, he pulled up a chair and sat down, close to Usagi. He started up a conversation that left Rei steaming in anger. Her hand clenched and Makoto knew that she fought the urge to jump over the table and strangle him for flirting with her princess who was ENGAGED to her soulmate, and to dare do it in front of Makoto.

"So, Usagi, you know that new movie coming out in theaters? I have an extra ticket if you want to come."

"Actually, I was planning on seeing it—"

"Great!"

"—with my fiancée."

Freddy seemed to deflate when she said that. "You're fiancée?"

"Yes," Minako interrupted. "She and he will be married soon."

"How old are you?" he asked, rather incredulously.

"16." Usagi blushed.

"16! My God! Why are you getting married so early? You have your whole life ahead of you to do something spectacular! Go to college, get a high paying job!"

"Perhaps she values love more than money," Rei bit at him sarcastically.

"Perhaps she should want to live her life before being shackled down," he retorted. "Look, I'm not saying anything bad about the guy, but getting married at 16? Isn't that a little early?"

Usagi looked at Minako helplessly when Freddy was arguing with Rei. Makoto knew very well that the two had no intention of getting married until after each had finished college. Usagi's mother and father, and even Mamoru, would settle for nothing less. Not to mention Haruka and Michiru would have split a gut knowing that she wouldn't go to college.

"So are you assuming that if a woman gets married then she must stop living her life or having a job?" asked Ami quietly. "It has been known to happen frequently that both partners continue schooling even if they do get married."

Freddy flushed. "Well, I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. Well, then, Usagi. Congratulations. Makoto, I still have that extra ticket. Want to go?"

Makoto, who had been silent through it all, looked at her friends. She could tell that they did not like Freddy at all, especially Minako and Rei, seeing as how they glowered at him, Rei a bit more obviously than Minako. She looked at Freddy and his wonderful smile. He hadn't changed much in two years, still as beautiful, as gorgeous, as ever.

But she looked at her friends again as they all, Freddy included, watched her silently for her answer. Her friends had been there for her for two years, had never once let her down. They had bled, hurt, and died side by side for the princess. They had laughed, baked, argued, and shopped together. She knew they did not like Freddy at all. She knew that if she said yes, they would be happy for her, but things would change forever between them. Her friends meant a lot to her, but did they mean more to her than her Sempai?

Did she love her friends more than she loved Freddy?

She turned back to the boy awaiting her answer. "No."

He looked surprised and then smiled a melting smile at her. "No? Got a secret boyfriend or fiancée too?"  
  


"Leave this table now," Minako whispered forcefully.

"Huh?" he said, looking at her.

"I said leave this table."

"Why?"

"Because you upset us and Makoto with your presence. Leave."

"But—"

"Did you hear the lady? She said leave."

Makoto looked up at the newcomer and gasped. He looked at her and his eyes went round in surprise. He was a tall one, a head taller than she, but she would know him anywhere. His brown hair was longer, now, but that was not what caught her attention. It was those eyes. She KNEW those eyes like she knew her princess.

"Makoto," he said in surprise.

"You," she whispered.

It was then that she knew that Freddy had not been the one who had saved her and that she loved her savior, whoever that might be, not Freddy. And her eyes snapped to him and she remembered what she had blocked out for so long.

"You didn't help me at all," she said lowly, almost whispering the words. "You stood there while they tried to rape me."

Her friends gasped and Minako and Rei stood up in rage. Makoto looked back at the man still watching her, the one with the brown hair and chocolate eyes. "But you did. You saved me two years ago."

"I had not thought you would remember me at all," he admitted.

"How could I forget the man I love?"

"Love?" He looked back at her in total shock.

Freddy was looking nonplussed between the two. "What are we talking about?"

"Do you remember two years ago when Makoto was trapped in an alley in that school you went to?" the newcomer asked him.

Freddy's brow wrinkled as he thought. "Yeah, what about it?"

"What about it?" shrieked Rei angrily, causing many heads to swivel to their table.

"You left Makoto to be raped! You just stood there. It was him that saved her! You are the cause of her whole heartbreak and as her friend, I won't stand for it! Get out before I—"

Ami touched her arm before she could give away that she was Sailor Mars. But any minute Makoto knew Freddy would be charbroiled by a Flame Sniper if he didn't leave.

"Go, Freddy. And don't ever show your face to me again," Makoto whispered.

Faced with such opposition on all fronts, he shrugged and left the Crown Fruit Parlor.

"Please, tell us your name and sit down," Usagi said warmly. "Anyone who helps Mako-chan is welcome at our table."

"I wouldn't want to intrude or anything," he said with a wary glance at Rei and Minako.

But they were smiling at him and Makoto knew they all liked him. She blushed when he caught her eye and he smiled gently at her and sat down, somewhat gingerly. "My name is Nate, short for Nathaniel."

"So what really happened that day? Mako-chan doesn't remember much," Usagi prompted.

"Well, Makoto never knew, but from the day she came and I saw her, I had the worst crush on her. I would always follow her around and watch her, trying to get up enough courage to ask her out. When I found out she liked Freddy, had a crush on him, I was determined not to say anything or approach her. If she liked him, she obviously wouldn't want me. Besides, I was so shy. 

"When Makoto was walking home that day, her mind was elsewhere, I knew, which was why she was taken by surprise I guess. Did she tell you she was the dream of the martial arts team that we had? They loved her to death and I had seen her fight. The only way they had gotten her in a position like that was if they had gotten her by surprise.

"I glimpsed Freddy walking by and when Makoto called out for help to him, I fully expected him to help, even if he didn't like her, which was a possibility. It was what any decent human being should have done. But when he didn't do anything, I couldn't believe it. So I waded in to help. I didn't think you saw me at all; your eyes were so closed. When you transferred from the school in the next few months, I was convinced you had never even seen me. And I haven't seen you since, not until now. You have just become more beautiful over time."

Makoto blushed to the roots of her hair. "Thank you."

"But you said you loved me. Why? I thought you loved Freddy."

"I had thought all these years that it had been him who saved me. My love went to the one who had helped me when I needed it; that's who I fell in love with. When I realized it was you, I knew. I guess it had to have been off when Freddy wouldn't speak to me after that. Do you…do you still feel the same about me as before?"

"It never changed, Makoto."

"You can call me Mako-chan."

He smiled and kissed her hand like the princess she used to be. Behind her, her friends grinned.

End.

I think I might make three more, a whole series you know. In case you might have missed it, Nate is Nephrite, but not really Nephrite, you know? He's like a human equivalent character, not evil, but he doesn't know he's a Shitennou. I love the pairings so I might do three others, but you'd probably have to read it in order. It would really have nothing to do with them being Senshi at all, really. Just them as people. But I haven't decided yet.


End file.
